Guarino da Verona

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Guarino da Verona, fantasy picture

Guarino da Verona (also Guarino Veronese , Guarino Guarini ; * 1374 in Verona , † December 4, 1460 in Ferrara ) was a scholar and humanist of the Italian Renaissance .

Chronological order

In 1374 the Florentine State Chancellor Coluccio Salutati (1331–1406) bought parts of Francesco Petrarca's (1304–1374) library (the largest private library in Europe at the time) and also took the lead in collecting old manuscripts and reviving the Greek language. Salutati became Chancellor of Florence in 1375 and began the Reformation of the Florentine schools.

The Renaissance interest in antiquity increasingly extends to Greek culture as well. Last but not least, the theological union contacts between the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church lead many teachers of Greek language and literature to Italy, including in 1397 the first Greek scholar Manuel Chrysoloras (1353–1415) from Constantinople. After his arrival in Italy he worked as a Greek teacher, first in Verona, then in Venice and Florence .

At around the same time, the Florentine statesman Salutati brought Guarino and Niccolò Niccoli (1363–1437), both of whom studied with John of Ravenna (1356–1417), to Florence to help with the book collection and translation .

Life

Regulae grammaticales , manuscript from 1450
Guarino's letter of dedication to Pope Nicholas V , to whom he dedicated his Latin translation of Strabon's geography . London, British Library , Burney 107, fol. 1r
This article or section needs to be revised: apart from the duplication of his studies in Constantinople, the story of the two book boxes belongs to the realm of fables. In addition, much more can be reported about his work in Constantinople, including his later life. - Enzian44 ( discussion ) 01:59, Nov. 27, 2013 (CET)
Please help to improve it and then remove this marking.

After his early youth in Verona, Guarino studied Greek in Constantinople . In 1403, Guarino, along with Giovanni Aurispa and Francesco Filelfo , is one of the first Italians to go to Constantinople. There he studied Greek for five years at the school of Manuel Chrysoloras , whom he had previously met in Italy. He brings back 50 manuscripts, or the three come back with several hundred codices : historians, church fathers, poets, philosophers. Works by Demosthenes , Lukian , Cassius Dio , Xenophon , Strabon , Diodor , Plato and the Platonists reach Italy. A popular anecdote by humanists reports that Guarino was so grieved at the loss of one of the manuscripts (which went down with another ship) that his hair turned gray overnight.

Guarino translates the entire Strabo from Greek (for which he receives 1000 Scudi ), about 15 of Plutarch's Heldenleben and some works by Lukian and Isocrates . He also writes elementary Latin grammar.

He spent the rest of his life teaching Greek and history in Verona, Florence, Venice and Ferrara.

In 1427 Guarino found the lost work of Celsus again. 1429 he is from Niccolò III. d'Este called to Ferrara to raise his son Leonello as a prince . In Ferrara he (also?) Runs a private school. In 1434 his youngest son Battista Guarino was born. In 1436 he was appointed professor of Greek at the University of Ferrara with the support of Leonello d'Este . From 1438 he also worked as a translator for the Greek-speaking participants in the Council of Basel / Ferrara / Florence . At around the same time, Peter Luder began his humanistic studies with Guarino. The schools founded by him and Vittorino da Feltre in Mantua (1425) influence pedagogy in particular through their appreciation of the Greek language and culture and serve as a school model up to the 18th century, which led to the modern humanistic grammar school through the establishment of the Latin school .

meaning

In addition to his outstanding role as advocate and teacher of the Greek language within the studia humaniora , Guarino's importance is also based on his translations by Strabons, whose entire work he translated (into Latin and Italian at the time). He also translated some of Plutarch's Bíoi parálleloi ("Parallel Descriptions of Life") and wrote a compendium on the Greek grammar of Chrysoloras ; Finally, he also wrote a series of commentary essays on Persius , Martial , the satires of Juvenal and some of the writings of Aristotle and Cicero .

Editions

  • Remigio Sabbadini (Ed.): Epistolario . 3 volumes. 1915-19 (reprinted 1967).
  • Carmina . Edited by Aldo Manetti, 1985.
  • Maria I. Campanale (Ed.): Giochi di specchi per il principe. L'orazione di Guarino per Leonello d'Este. Edipuglia, Bari 2012, ISBN 978-88-7228-685-2 (critical edition with detailed introduction)

literature

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Guarino da Verona
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Guarino Veronese; Guarino Guarini from Verona; Guarino from Verona
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian scholar and humanist
DATE OF BIRTH 1374
PLACE OF BIRTH Verona , Italy
DATE OF DEATH December 4, 1460
Place of death Ferrara